AS Media Studies – Evaluation of my Music Magazine
Question 1: My media project uses an extensive variety of different conventions in order to sustain its professional look. I believe I used at least 10 different conventions to ensure that my media work would look proficient and expensive. By using these conventions, I believe I have helped to create something that wouldn’t look out of place alongside other music magazines on the shelves of a newsagent but that also has my own styled identity stamped on it. Hopefully by doing this, I have attracted an indie/mainstream audience. The conventions I have used are as following; Masthead and title: This is a title, which appears on every magazine In order for it to become its own, well-known brand. It is a fixed title that Is in the same position in each edition. It is extremely important to have a Masthead as it defines the look of a magazine, making it visually Appealing to the eye of the reader. If a masthead is appealing, it is More than likely to catch the reader’s attention. I have used my masthead to Attract a younger range of adults/teenagers. I’ve done this by presenting Connor, A young adult, with a guitar pulling a childish, fun-loving face. This hopefully will Attract a younger audience. I have also placed the ‘B’ in ‘subverse’ behind Connors head like the world wide magazine VIBE (shown to the right). VIBE attracts a young audience and by using A young model on the front of my Magazine, I have done the same. My model is in an unusual and expressive pose. This should hopefully attract a younger Audience too. The fact that my model Is also topless also presents him as a young, Fit individual, this again counteracting The young image he portrays. Cover Lines: Cover lines are short phrases placed on the front of the magazine Which describe briefly what to expect inside the magazine. It is extremely Important that a magazine has cover lines as it attracts a reader and shows the Inside ‘gossip’ that the reader should be interested in. The cover lines attract us To a magazine because they show us a readers what to expect and what is to Be featured inside the magazine. In my magazine I’ve used cover lines in the Colours of blue and white to attract my reader. I’ve also used different font sizes to Attract the reader. Drop Caps: Drop caps are the first letter of a paragraph in a magazine that is larger than the following Letters and usually is enlarged to ‘drop’ down two or more lines into the next paragraph. These causes empathise on the text and show the reader where to start reading from. Drop caps are very common within magazines and are used as a professional technique to draw the reader’s eyes to the start of the paragraph. In doing this many magazine incorporate drop caps in different ways to add stylistic personification or a general theme to the article. When taking into consideration how I was going to incorporate a drop cap into my article, I decided to stay with the original method in which the drop cap only drops around 3 or 4 lines, at the start of the article. I felt that this suited my article better than trying something a lot more vivid, as I wanted to keep a professional and constant theme.
Pull quotes: Pull quotes are used a quotation or excerpt from an article that is typically placed in a larger or distinctive typeface on the same page, serving to entice readers into an article or to highlight a key topic. The term is principally used in publishing. When considering the position and style of my pull quote, I took into consideration its importance within connection to the article, a long side this I had to ensure it fitted the theme and did not look out of place. I added a small graphic to the page and placed my pull quote within this. The quote also had to be related to my article, this is why I had to take care when selecting my quote, so it made sense.
Kicker: the kicker is a small phrase which is usually placed just above the headlines. It is normally in a smaller font that the actual headline, the kicker in my magazine is used to introduce the section of writing below it. A kicker is a type of visual ‘sign post’ which ‘leads’ the reader to what the article below it is about. This helps the reader to understand what is to be found in the textual information below. In my magazine I have used the kicker ‘MK’s big story from start to now’. My kicker guides my readers and helps them to understand what is going to be discussed in the paragraphs below.
Colour scheme and house style: Column structure: Magazines use column structure to set out pieces of information into smaller chunks, making it more appealing to the eye of the reader. For example, if a reader was to be presented with a long chuck of lengthy writing with no column structure, it would look daunting and almost anaesthetically pleasing to the eye. However, if you were to be presented with columns that are broken up into smaller chunks, an individual is more likely to want to read this as it looks easier to read.
Question 2:
Question 3: “What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?” I am lead to believe that Bauer Media would distribute my magazine. I believe this for a few different reasons which I will explain in great depth below. Bauer media is one of Europe’s largest privately own publishing groups. This group offers over 300 different magazines in 15 different countries, it is also an online business and is on the TV and different radio stations including KISS FM and MAGIC. Firstly, my magazine is characteristically mainstream, offering different genres of music including both R&B and Rap music. Bauer Media offers chart music by using their radio station KISS FM. KISS FM includes R&B styled music and therefore I believe there’s a niche in the market from my R&B related magazine. My target audience is also aimed at a young audience (18-24) and believe that Bauer Media aim there publishing at people around this age. Bauer Media are an extremely influential media group, offering over 80 diverse brand names to their audience. I believe my magazine fits into the young lifestyle of many of their readers and believe people will be extremely interested in a magazine that offers a variety of different music types and the musician’s backgrounds and why young people are highly influenced by their idols.